One Dark Rose: A Story Of Love and Murder
by RokSkarr
Summary: Isobel Dark-Water has gone all her life not being wanted; except by the one who loved her most. Can she protect herself and her new found love by killing? And will she solve her life's greatest mystery?


_This FanFiction includes characters of my own creation. Their names, when first met will be marked with an "*". Also, this is VERY loosely based on some events of the Dark Brotherhood and the houses in the HearthFire add-on. I do not own any content from Skyrim, Bethesda does. Enjoy the story!_

_Chapter 1: The Thorn_

Isobel Dark-Water* knew two things about herself: she belonged and yet she was never wanted. Growing up in Solitude had been easy; too easy, since he was of Imperial birth. The Imperials were accepted, as the Stormcloaks had been thrown out years ago by the ever faithful Legion. That part of acceptance had been easy. But the other part, growing up alone had not been so simple. Her parents were merchants, and owned a small general store, called the _Bloody Iris_, which was now known for its never empty mead barrels that could be found after dark. Isobel could remember when her family had first moved to Solitude; it had been the best day of her life.

_Isobel ran up the streets of Solitude. Her parents had wanted her out of the house so they could set up the shop. She wondered who she might play with; the other children were huddled into groups and were obviously having fun. But Isobel didn't care what the others were doing. Her seven year old brain thought only of games and new toys, and therefore didn't see the on coming horse in her path. Isobel shrieked, and covered her head. She prayed to Mara that it wouldn't hurt. She prayed to the rest for life. And quite suddenly, the horse did stop. A woman,of Elvish nature and in her early twenties, got off the horse and came over to Isobel._

_"Are you alright? Merey and I wouldn't have wanted to run over such an important person."_

_Isobel wiped her eyes and stared at the woman. Her face showed signs of fatigue, and her dark eyes were clouded with other thoughts. The woman's dress pockets were filled with coins, jewels and other valuables. But Isobel had only eyes for a small doll that hung from the woman's belt. The woman followed Isobel's gaze and smiled.  
_

_"Ah, so you like to play with dolls? This one was for my own daughter. She's about your age and loves to play inside with little bits of straw tied with string, I thought it would be nice to get her a real doll."  
Isobel's face fell. She knew that the doll could never be hers. But the woman continued to speak,  
"But this one I bought from Whiterun, and the man who made it did a very poor job, wouldn't you say? I wish I knew where to get a better one."  
"There's a Khajiit caravan out in front of Solitude today. They may have one." said Isobel excitedly. She barely knew this woman, yet there was something about helping friendly strangers that was so nice, even if they had almost run you over with a horse.  
"Thank you very much, little one. Here, for your help." And with that, the Elf handed Isobel the doll, and got back on her horse. The parade continued with much pomp, and even the other children were joining in, but Isobel only cradled the doll in her arms, and watched out for oncoming horses. Just as she was about to turn into the alley where her new home was, a boy with dark brown hair that needed cutting came running up to her.  
"Hey! Hey you! You were the one the Dragonborn stopped in the parade, right?"  
Isobel was confused by the boy's words, and his acknowledgement of her. "Excuse me? The Dragon-what?__"  
__"What planet have you been living on that you don't know who the Dragonborn is?" The boy obviously had family in the Legion; his pushy attitude and pattern of speech just screamed high ranking officer.  
My family just came into Skyrim from Cyrodiil today. I don't know anything about anyone here." Isobel felt very embarrassed saying all of this to a complete stranger, but with all of her encounters with strangers today, she supposed she should throw all embarrassment out the window at this point.  
"The Dragonborn is the hero of Skyrim! She's the Harbinger of the Companions, killer of bandits and Thanes of all nine holds! She's the one who have you that doll, for Shor's sake!"  
"That was her?" Isobel looked from the boy to the doll in her hands, and realized how important this gift was. The boy's voice shocked her back to reality.  
"So if you just moved her, you don't have any friends, huh?"  
"Gee, thanks for being so polite about it." huffed Isobel, who could now feel tears coming on.  
"Hey, relax. I'll be your friend if you like."  
"Really? You mean it?"  
"Yeah. By, the way, my name's Markus. Markus Tasellis."  
"I'm Isobel. Isobel Dark-Water."_


End file.
